Senior Year 2024-2025, Trips with the Martin Scholars
- Evan Malcolm
- Nov 24, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 5, 2025
Fall Semester Atlanta Trip, November 3-5: I’m pleased to announce that the 2024 Martin Scholars Atlanta trip was an absolute success. The entire trip consisted of seven site visits, 4 Corporate and 3 Agencies. Let me take you through all of our stops!
First, the Martin Scholars traveled to the Chick-Fil-A Corporate headquarters to receive a grand tour of the facility featuring the outstanding career of its creator, Truett Cathy. Also, we had the opportunity to ask questions about Chick-Fil-A’s outreach strategies during a panel session prior to the tour. It was interesting to hear how Chick-Fil-A manages to align their values with the countries they’re working on expanding to.
Second, we made our way to the Home Depot Corporate Headquarters nearby for a panel session with Internal/External COMM’s experts who provided us insights for encountering challenges in the workplace. I truly enjoyed having the opportunity to ask questions at this visit in particular because of how well the staff were able to relate to them.
Third, we ventured to the Adult Swim/Warner Media Corporate Headquarters where we met with a production supervisor who works with the business side of content creation. After receiving a tour of the extraordinary studio, the scholars had the opportunity to ask questions regarding AI in the design industry. It was also explained to us how Adult Swim pushes production limits to achieve the highest rated level of content they’re allowed to produce for their fans.
To conclude Monday, the Scholars proceeded on to the Coca-Cola corporate headquarters where we received an amazing presentation from the executives of brand communications and business communications, Claire Kudlata and Daniel Hughes. I was incredibly inspired by the careers of both presenters and fascinated by their explanations of how influential Coca-Cola has become on a global level. Learning that their approach to measuring success is through reaching their target audience via Ads was also a surprise to me. I always figured Coca-Cola products would sell themselves eventually.
Moving on to Tuesday:
Tuesday morning, the Scholars paid a visit to the agency Golin where we learned about methods for multitasking marketing projects for clients. It was incredibly interesting to hear about how many projects the firm had been completing at once including campaigns involving McDonalds, the National Peanut Board, Jose Cuervo, and the Miami Heat.
Next, we traveled to the Jackson Spalding offices where we had the opportunity to talk with a few experienced panel members. I was incredibly intrigued by how much pivoting each employee had made in their multitalented career.
Lastly, Arketi Group. I am confident that this visit was among my favorite of the bunch.
I would like to give a special thanks to chaperones Bethany Goodier and Ryan Milner for accompanying the scholars on this trip. Also, I owe this entire experience to Tom Martin and the numerous donors that made it all possible.
Next up, Washington D.C and NYC!
Martin Scholars Wampee Plantation Retreat, September 27-28: This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Wampee Plantation home alongside my fellow Martin Scholars on retreat. This experience for me was rejuvenating and inspiring due to the amount of creativity I got to witness among all of my peers. During my time at Wampee, I had the chance to network with the Schottland Scholars as well as the BHC Service Leader Scholars. Getting to know each person on this retreat was eye opening, everyone had something extremely special to contribute to the conversation.
One of my favorite parts of this trip was getting to listen to the life stories of experienced workers in the Hospitality and Communication/Marketing Industries. Having the opportunity to ask questions during these sessions reminded of how fortunate I am to have the ability to learn from professionals in my field. Also, having the experience of learning my top five strengths during the workshop on Saturday morning is key for me me gradually moving towards graduation.
I would like to give a special thanks to Ryan Milner and Tom Martin for allowing my peers and I this incredible opportunity. I am forever grateful to be a part of a group that allows for everyday growth and motivation. I can’t wait for what the future holds with the The Martin Center for Mentorship in Communication!
Comments